1/02/2009

Google This

On any given day, my brain will attempt to either make or recognize no less than 793 pop cultural references. I rarely know where the reference is from, just that I've seen or heard it someplace before. On a good day, I can nail the source of about 42 of them. Does that mean I often reference things without a clue where they came from or what I'm talking about? Most of the time, mon ami.

What happens to the remaining 751 bits of memory? With the glorious joygasm that is the Internet, I am eventually able to hunt down whatever movie/song/teen magazine the quote is from. This saves me from the haunting torture that is Obsessive Reference Disorder (ORD). Without access to the soothing answers of the Internet, my brain becomes a thick stew of fragmented quotes, incomplete lyrics and thoughts of "what show is that guy from, dammit?!"

Every now and then something springs into my mind that I can't do anything with. I call them "The Unsearchables". Like when my brain gets stuck on a single image from a movie I can't name. Or I'm reminded of a song whose lyrics are either too common or too short. Like the phrases "leaving for good" or "my heart". It's also tough when you don't get the lyrics totally right. Just so you know, the line is not "Might as well face it, you're a d**k with a glove."

This also happens when I have trouble remembering stuff from my own life. Like when you can't quite come up with the specific details to something from your past: an experience, a conversation, a thought. For the good of humanity, Google has yet to index my brain.

My latest triumph was when - for some reason - I thought about a book I read in 4th grade. I couldn't recall the title. Or the author. Or any of the characters. Or the plot. To be honest, I don't think I actually read the book at all, though that didn't stop me from making a diorama for it. All I knew was that the cover of the book had a picture of a girl with crazy future goggles and an ugly red sweater. It only took me 4 days of vague internet searches and intermittent, restless sleep to locate Monica Hughes' Invitation to the Game. Yeah. I AM that effing good.

Today, my brain is stuck on a new unsearchable. It's a song of which I recall none of the lyrics and barely any of the music. There are only two things I can scrape from the random depths of my memory banks:
  1. A part of the song's melody might go something like "na na na... na-na... na na." Maybe with the word "changes" somewhere in there. Or it could be "dang'rous." Possibly no on both accounts.
  2. This weird dance move some guy does in what I think is the video for the song in question

How the hell am I supposed to Google this?

3 comments:

  1. It's good to see I'm not the only one.

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  2. Ah, Pop Culture. How I love thee.

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  3. Anonymous9.2.09

    ORD...huh? So, not just known as the Chicago O'Hare Airport, but a disorder as well, interesting. So, from you're little "melody", I'm thinking it's Centerfold by the J.Geiles Band...now if you watch the video he does some special moves...but not as sweet and kick ass as the ones you demonstrate...but you be the judge; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Effh4ZVBakU

    P.S. I'd keep the volume pretty low, the dude covering the song, isn't as talented as the band...just warning ya.

    Stine

    ReplyDelete